A Change of Destinies
by TheBong
Summary: The Fourth Shinobi World War had finally ended but the world would never be the same again. Naruto was broken;too many lives had perished and too much had been lost. He couldn't help but wonder 'Could there possibly be a way to change the timeline' Almost-Godlike!Naruto, Time Travel
1. Post-War Regrets

Hey there, just want to inform you guys that this is the first fic that I've ever written. I hope that this story can be a platform for improvement for my writing so just leave a review and tell me what you think I can improve on :). Also, feel free to give me suggestions and ideas for future chapters!

Still undecided on any pairings (Give me suggestions as well!)

 **A CHANGE OF DESTINIES**

Three years…

It has been slightly longer than three years since the Fourth Shinobi World War began. It seemed never-ending. Uchiha Madara and the power of the ten-tailed beast were far stronger than anyone had ever anticipated. He had captured eight of the nine tailed-beasts and was just one step away from victory. However, he had deviated from his original plan to cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi due to the fact that he was unable to get his hands on Naruto no matter how hard he tried. So instead, he had decided to massacre the remaining forces to appease his grudge against humanity and force Naruto to surrender himself to him. Countless lives had been lost as a result; comrades, friends, loved ones, gone and only a third of the Allied Shinobi Forces remained. Morale was at an all-time low.

Still, there was hope. Hope to end the war, and gift future generations everlasting peace. Hope to be free from their pain. And hope to exact revenge on the murderer of their loved ones.

Whatever was left of the Shinobi Forces sought refuge in the ruins of Konoha, a land devoid of the bustling life it once had. Madara, in an attempt to demoralize the Shinobi Forces, had committed mass genocide on the innocent civilians in the various elemental villages.

All the Shinobi Forces could do was watch, powerless to stop Madara's rampage.

In a last ditch effort, they decided to take their last stand. The remaining 30,000 Shinobi devised plan to end the war once and for all: To pave a way, regardless of whatever was thrown at them, for the Sealing squad to use a combined Shiki Fujin and seal Madara and the Ten-tailed beast, silencing them permanently. Though the plan was suicidal and even more lives will be lost as a result, it didn't even bother any of the Shinobi. They had suffered far too many casualties and felt that enough was enough. The war _was_ going to end there and then, whether they survived or not.

And thus, the plan commenced. The forces threw themselves at wave after wave of white Zetsus and reincarnated ninja in an attempt to create an opening for the sealing team.

One man down… The next second, fifteen men… Naruto had lost count of how many deaths there were. He could feel the souls of his comrades leaving their bodies one after another; an unfortunate feature of his sage mode. Still, he persevered and continued fighting, disregarding everything that was happening around him.

After several gruelling hours, the sealing team managed to get within a close enough range of Madara and the Juubi. As he was oblivious to whatever the Shinobi Allied Forces' plans were, he charged recklessly at his main objective as soon as he set his eyes on him: Uzumaki Naruto. The many years of his small 'victories' had made him complacent and this led him to his ultimate demise.

As soon as he fell within the range of the Shiki Fujin, the first half of the sealing team immediately took advantage of his vulnerability and sealed him into themselves, splitting his soul into several hundred fragments, before collapsing to the ground, lifeless. Without Madara controlling the Juubi and the Edo Tensei all but dispelled, the rest of the battle proceeded without too much difficulty. Naruto managed to overpower the disorderly Juubi and create an opportunity for the second sealing team to seal it within himself, the last surviving member of the Uzumaki clan.

The Fourth Shinobi War was therefore concluded… But at what cost?

Over 65,000 of the 80,000 Shinobi involved in the war had perished, along with millions of innocent civilians. Madara was indeed defeated… But he had won the war. The elemental nations would never be the same again.

Naruto was perched atop the Hokage Rock, overlooking the ruins of Konoha joylessly. It was the only structure in Konoha still intact and unharmed, whether Madara intentionally left it this way or not, was uncertain. This place had been their base of operations ever since Madara had captured B and Gyuuki, giving him the power to obliterate the various villages and their previous bases. It was only because there were hidden quarters and rooms throughout the inside of the Hokage Rock that they were able to allow remaining forces to hide from Madara's sight.

Undoubtedly so, Naruto was devastated. He had been suppressing all his emotions during the war for the sake of victory and now, all the accumulated grief he had held back had started to manifest all at once. The realization that he had lost _so_ many friends hit him really hard. Still, he had to put up a strong front for the survivors, to be their guiding light in this hour of darkness.

"Naruto… It's time for your speech." said the last surviving member of the Nara clan monotonously. "Those people down there need some motivation to keep going, they've lost too much in the war."

Naruto turned around to meet Shikamaru's eyes.

"So have I… If i were to tell them that everything would be alright. That life would be better from here on out. That we've won the war. Wouldn't I be spitting bullshit?" Naruto sighed. "What is the point in continuing on with life if you aren't able to share the joy with people you care for? With the people you love?"

"I can't possibly encourage them to be hopeful and confident, when _i myself,_ am a fucking mess. I'm not that big of a hypocrite!" Naruto bellowed in anguish.

Naruto thought back to his carefree days as a genin. Despite all the hatred he received as a child, Naruto dearly missed the villagers… and his friends. He had been through hell, sacrificed so much to finally gain the acknowledgment he so dreamed of. He finally had friends, he was happy. Then that accursed war erupted out of nowhere and fucked everything up. _Damn_ that Madara! He had taken everything away from him!

Of the Konoha 12, only Shikamaru and he had survived. The others had been killed, murdered relentlessly whilst fighting for peace. Their Sensei, gone as well. All that remained were broken survivors, Shinobi and villagers with barely any will to live.

Shikamaru shook his head and sighed. He could see it in Naruto's eyes, the hyperactive optimistic teenager was but a remnant of the past. The person in front of him was a broken man. The war had robbed him of all of his joy and happiness; There wasn't a shred of hope in the man remaining.

"Shikamaru." Naruto called out as his head turned back to look over gaze at the destroyed village."Is there… Is there a way? Is there a way to go back and prevent all this from ever happening? I have heard of space-time ninjutsu. Maybe…"

Tears welled up in the eyes of the blonde haired ninja. He knew it was hopeless. If such a powerful jutsu existed, someone would've discovered it by now. Far smarter ninja have existed before him. But he couldn't help but wonder if there was a slight possibility.

"I don't know if such a jutsu exists, I'm not even sure if it's even possible. But all that isn't important right now, we can think about it in the future," Shikamaru lectured. "The people need you now. They just went through a shitty war and right now, you are the only one who can give them ho-"

"Forget the speech! I'd rather be captured by Madara than spew lies and false hope upon my comrades!" Naruto interrupted as he shunshin-ed away.

"How troublesome…" sighed Shikamaru.

Shikamaru was not a fool by any means. He knew that things would never go back to being how they were before. Although there was finally peace and understanding amongst the various elemental villages, the future was looking very bleak. The repercussions of war would eventually take its toll on the people. Survivor's guilt, PTSD and various other post-traumatic illnesses would start to develop amongst the people eventually.

He had wished Naruto would inspire the people and alleviate this outcome. But he knew he could never force him to do such a thing. Naruto had already shouldered so much of the burden by himself and he would never put such a heavy burden on his now-fragile 'brother'.

-3 Months later-

Naruto had tried to convince himself that everything would work itself out for the past 3 months but every single day, he hoped that everything would return to how it once was. He couldn't help but reminisce about the happy-go-lucky life the village once had. He believed that the feeling of desolation amongst the villagers would gradually dissipate but whenever he entered his tailed beast mode, the rampant negative emotions would just seep into him all at once.

He had had enough of this. He couldn't, he _wouldn't_ stand for it anymore. He knew he had fucked up! His friends weren't meant to die during the war, heck the war shouldn't have even occurred in the first place! If he had known that this was going to happen, that all those lives were going to be lost, he would have just submitted to Madara and let the Infinite Tsukuyomi plan succeed. It would be much less painful that way.

He _was_ going to find a way to save everyone.

He was now more adamant than ever.

Naruto decided to consult his tenants to enquire about any possible ways reverse the flow of time and prevent everything from ever happening.

Entering the depths of his own mindscape, he could see all nine tailed beasts peacefully sleeping in a beautiful field. This place was seriously the epitome of sanctuary. Exquisite flora and fauna decorated the grasslands beautifully as the 'Sun' shone gloriously on the backs resting legendary beasts. Naruto had made a conscious effort to get rid of that disgusting sewer-like mindscape he had Kurama live in for years (yes, he felt guilty about it) and replaced it with something more comfortable and welcoming for the sake of his new guests.

When the Juubi was sealed into Naruto near the end of the war, the sealing squad had made a considerable effort in splitting it up so that the 8 captured tailed beasts would once again, be themselves.

Although he _did_ want them to roam freely, doing as they please, he had a consensus with them to keep them sealed within himself for the time being, until the world became a safer, more stable place.

"Everyone! Please, wake up, I need your help!" Pleaded Naruto as he woke the tailed beasts from their naps.

" **Let me guess *yawn*, you realized that you've had enough of this pathetic outcome and you want to find a way to go back to the past to save everyone, am i right?"** Kurama said as he gently shook himself awake. **"Well i can tell you now that it is impossible. That kind of jutsu doesn't exist. If it did, someone would have exploited it and screwed everything up by now."**

"How do you kn-" Naruto asked meekly, slightly surprised.

" **We're sealed inside of you, genius! We can feel all your emotions and hear your thoughts!"** Son Goku mocked. **"We can feel you drowning in self-pity and depression for the past 3 months! So much so that we've probably become depressed ourselves!"**

"Wha-" Naruto blushed in embarrassment. "Th- then why didn't you mention this earlier?!"

" **Well, Naru-chan, we wanted to give you time to move on, if ever possible."** Matatabi admitted.

"I tried. I really did…" his embarrassment quickly turned into sorrow as tears welled up in his eyes. "They didn't deserve to die! I can't live on knowing that they died meaningless deaths! If there is any way that i can save them, even if it means sacrificing myself… I wou-"

" **For a jutsu of that scale, the amount of chakra required would be… incomprehensible,"** Saiken interrupted, not wanting the man to lament any more than he already was.

" **You'd probably need at least the power of several tailed beasts combi-" Kurama declared but quickly did a double take as his eyes hovered over his roommates "It is actually... very possible now that i think about it… Since all of us are here and all..."**

" **HOWEVER, we do not know of any techniques that would solve your problems… And that's where you come in." Kurama grinned. "You provide us with the knowledge, we'll provide you with the chakra!"**

Naruto glanced towards the other tailed beasts, each of them smiling at him with a look of determination etched on their face, ready to help their favourite blonde in any way.

Naruto couldn't help but grin, an expression that had been missing from his face from a long,long time. He silently thanked the heavens for blessing him with such amazing comrades.

"Thank you...everyone…"Naruto said as he phased out from the mindscape.

Despite being filled with all the determination in the world, Naruto still didn't have a clue where to start. He did not know the first thing about space-time ninjutsu nor about anything that relates to it.

"Dad… Mom… What do i do now? What can i possibly do to save them?" He murmured to himself.

He had always thought of his late parents during times when he doubted himself. He had used them as his pillar of hope and motivation to carry on with life, to stay strong and continue to be a beacon of hope for everyone. They were brave shinobi who had sacrificed themselves in order to protect him and Konoha. He looked up to them immensely.

His mother was Uzumaki Kushina, a beautiful red-haired woman renowned for her fiery personality and random outbursts. She was a very capable ninja in her own right and extremely knowledgable in the art of Fuinjutsu(Sealing Techniques) as she was from Uzushiogakure, a nation feared and destroyed due to their extensive understanding of Fuinjutsu.

"Fuinjutsu… Maybe i could…" He pondered.

He knew that fuinjutsu was a very versatile technique and that it could be applied to almost anything in the world. Perhaps he could utilise fuinjutsu…?

Then his thoughts moved on to his father, Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage of Konoha and one of the most skilled Shinobi to ever live. The mere mention of his name would strike fear into Konoha's enemies due to the fact that he single-handedly wiped out an entire battalion consisting of over 1000 Shinobi. The yellow flash, which he was known as during the course of the Third Shinobi war, was also rather skilled in the art of Fuinjutsu, having learnt it from his wife, Kushina. He had adopted Fuinjutsu and implemented it in one of his deadliest techniques, the Hiraishin. An S-Class Space-Time ninjutsu that allowed him to manipulate the dimensions of the universe.

Space-Time ninjutsu… Could it be? Could the Hiraishin be a key in going back to the past? One thing's for sure, Naruto now had a lead. But to even understand the concept of the Hiraishin and Fuinjutsu would not be easy let alone mastering it and using it to get back to the past.

Thankfully, during the setting up of the makeshift Shinobi Alliance headquarters in Konoha, they had discovered the Fourth's secret study hidden deep within the bowels of the emergency shelters inside the Hokage Rock. It was filled with innumerable books, study material, scribbles and notes. Had it not been for the information available in this room, the sealing squad would never have learnt the Shiki Fujin seal that tore Madara's soul apart and sealed them into the Sealing squad's martyrs, allowing them to end the war. They had during that time, also discovered notes leading up to the Fourth's mastery of the Hiraishin but were unable to comprehend any of it due to the sheer complexity of it all and they had eventually given up because of time constraints.

Naruto knew that he now faced the greatest obstacle of all time. He had to accomplish something he had never managed to succeed in in the past throughout his entire life. He… had to study.

Thankfully, he has one of the most brilliant minds in the world to help him conquer this task in Shikamaru, a person he fully entrusted his life with. As well as several tailed beasts with several millennia worth of knowledge.

He finally had hope

That is it for my first chapter guys! Might have been slightly shorter than the average fic but I felt that I should leave the rest for the next few chapters.

Remember to leave reviews, advice and suggestions~


	2. Breakthrough

**Chapter 2: Breakthrough**

Hey everyone, thanks for all the reviews in the previous chapter. Never expected to hit 30+ followers for the first chapter considering this is my first ever work.

Apologies for posting such short chapters but I'm currently serving in the military and it's quite difficult to find spare time to write.

Appreciate every single one of you who took the time to read this story and I hope you'll follow me on this journey I'm about to take you on~ Cheers.

-Bong

 **A CHANGE OF DESTINIES**

Naruto's team of experts had expected Fuinjutsu to be hard to incredibly perplexing, but not to _this_ extent. Even with the knowledge of the Fuinjutsu experts that had survived the war, they had only barely managed to scrape the surface of the technique after two tedious months. They had learnt that the Fuinjutsu techniques that had been using in Konoha were merely elementary level compared to the potential uses of the technique. Even the 'experts' had difficulty comprehending the complexity of the patterns of the more 'advanced' versions of the jutsu.

During these two months, the two of them had however, been unable to fully commit to studying as they still had their respective roles and responsibilities in their village. Since Tsunade had passed on a year ago, no one had taken over her role as Hokage as frankly, there was no real need for one. But now that the war had concluded, Naruto was deemed by the daimyo as the one most suited to the role and was thus bestowed the title of the Sixth Hokage, much to his chagrin; he had long given up the dream of being Hokage of Konoha. That aim was merely to achieve his real ambition of being acknowledged by the villagers when he was younger. Losing so many of them had made him want to spit on that dream. But he knew that the village needed someone to lead them in this hour of darkness and he was the person most able to do just that, as a result he reluctantly agreed despite knowing how it would deter his plans. Naruto was still himself after all, and he would always care for the villagers in spite of whatever happens.

As his first duty as Hokage, he had to find some way to quell all of the post-war trauma the people were suffering from. Every single day, he had to send multitudes of shadow clones in order to help the villagers in their rebuilding efforts and counsel the villagers to ensure that they were alright and to motivate them to put the suffering behind them and keep moving forward.

Shikamaru, on the other hand, had been appointed as the Advisor to the Hokage and thus had to handle incredible mountains of paperwork in Naruto's stead since said person was preoccupied with other village matters. There were documents and reports regarding property disputes, rogue ninja, and basically any other matter you could possibly think of, even the pettiest ones. He would sit at the Hokage's desk for almost twelve hours a day filling up reports and filing documents, being engulfed in paperwork over and over again, day after day. The fact that the Fourth's study was also filled with heaps of study notes that looked very much like the paperwork he had to do all day didn't help motivate him at all.

However, in spite of their busy schedules, the two of them would find time in between to study whatever they could, to try and gain an understanding of Fuinjutsu and the Hiraishin. Even the tailed beasts had tried to help in whatever way they could; they weren't particularly adept in Fuinjutsu whatsoever, but each one of them had been sealed several times throughout their lives and had had an eternity to inspect their seals whilst remaining dormant in their respective Jinchuuriki.

After those first two months of Naruto's and Shikamaru's tenure in their new roles, most of the accumulated paperwork had been completed and demand for Naruto's aid in the rebuilding effort eventually declined due to them working endlessly every day, giving each of them more time to pursue their true ambition.

For the first time, the two of them could actually sit down with the Fuinjutsu experts in order to learn about the basics of Fuinjutsu for more than an hour without having to return to their duties. They had been unable to understand any of it so far due to their short sporadic study session.

They were taught about how Fuinjutsu worked and how the seals of Fuinjutsu were created. Every pattern and every detail on a seal had its purpose and in order to get the seal to work properly, nothing must be out of place. It was mostly theory and there was very minimal practical work.

Shikamaru had initially expected Naruto to have some difficulty understanding even the basic concepts of Fuinjutsu but the blonde had seemed to grasp the technique extraordinarily easily. So much so that it seemed as if Fuinjutsu was engraved in his DNA, that he was innately predisposed to the mastery of the technique.

Was it the Uzumaki blood? Or was it that man's sheer willpower to achieve his dream? All he needed was a basic understanding of how Fuinjutsu functioned and he could put all the pieces together immediately. It was scary, considering how much of a knucklehead he was in the past. Shikamaru couldn't help but wonder how formidable a shinobi Naruto would have been if he actually made full use of his brain much earlier.

Of course, Shikamaru was by no means lacking in comparison to Naruto in terms of their learning capabilities. The experts were mortified at the rate the two prodigious Shinobi were progressing in their studies, completely eclipsing what limited knowledge they had on the subject. They couldn't help but observe in awe whilst the two of them studied and experimented with Fuinjutsu, achieving feats with the technique that they never thought were even possible.

Naruto now knew the endless capabilities of Fuinjutsu. He had realized that the possibilities were endless if one gained true mastery over it. It was the reason why Shinobi such as his father, the Uzumaki clan, and that weirdo Orochimaru were so revered (and feared). You could even unlock the secrets of immortality with the right tools and knowledge. However, he couldn't care less about all the other uses of it. He had set his mind on one thing and one thing only, to find a way to manipulate time and space.

The Fourth Hokage's study indeed had incredibly detailed notes of Fuinjutsu, however, when it come to the Hiraishin, he had barely left any clues pertaining to it at all. It was likely to prevent enemies from learning the horribly dangerous technique in the unlikely event that Konoha's enemies breached the place. The technique, in the wrong hands, would be absolutely devastating.

Still, it didn't take very long for Naruto and Shikamaru to understand the theoretical concepts behind it, however, they were still slightly rusty in terms of the application of it. The Hiraishin is a jutsu that utilises unique seals which upon activation, sends the user into a timeless dimensional void where they can then choose the seal that they want to reappear at. These seals were usually permanent unless they were intentionally destroyed. It wasn't as simple as mere teleportation. They had also theorized the possibility of manipulating this timeless void to create an opening for them to travel back in time to one of the Fourth Hokage's seals.

The two of them could feel it, they were getting closer than ever to their goal. Anticipation coursed through them like adrenaline.

After several tough weeks of non-stop practice, they could finally use the Hiraishin to a certain extent, but found it difficult to execute the Jutsu consecutively, meaning that they could only 'teleport' to a single target before they had to compose themselves for a few seconds to cast it again. They had also learnt that the further the seal was from where the user originally was, the higher the chakra consumption and time they had to spend in the void.

Furthermore, there was a backlash to using the technique, inexperienced people being transported would experience extreme nausea and vertigo. The two of them had learnt this the hard way. The first time Naruto used the Jutsu, he had thrown up all over the Fourth's notes on the Shiki Fujin. Whilst Shikamaru had thrown up his meals at least ten times over the last four days. But the effects had alleviated with each use of the Jutsu as their bodies had begun attuning to it.

There was also another troublesome issue: They couldn't stay in the void for longer than five seconds before their bodies felt like they were being torn limb from limb. It was an unimaginable excruciating pain, far worse than anything they have ever experienced. So this meant that it would be probably be impossible for an ordinary person to transport himself to the opposite end of the world without dying in the process of the attempt.

Whilst practicing the Hiraishin, both of them could sense the existence of Hiraishin seals of the past but had never been able to pinpoint the exact location of them. So they started their trial and error process, by entering the void for as long as possible(without dying) in order to locate seals from the past. Though this would be an incredibly slow and arduous process, they had no other option. There was no pattern discoverable, no formulas, nothing at all.

By some stroke of incredible luck though, Shikamaru had managed to pinpoint the exact coordinates of a seal approximately 2-6 years back after just a couple of days of searching. It was a seal from when Konoha hadn't been levelled and hopefully, from _before_ the war. They _could_ spend more time searching for another seal to guarantee that it would send them back to a less random time but god knows how long that will take. Years, decades, centuries even; they couldn't possibly wait that long. They were willing to take the risks, fully aware that they could die in the process or be transported to a mid-war time, unable to change much out of the outcome.

It would take a godly amount of chakra to execute the jutsu perfectly and the odds calculated by Shikamaru after experimenting with the jutsu, were against them. After doing the math in regards to the jutsu, Shikamaru explained to Naruto and the tailed beasts about the various scenarios:

-If they get sent back in time less than three years into the past, the war would have already started and they would have to watch his comrades die one after another again, albeit lesser than the original timeline as he _would_ be able to change certain aspects of the war. However, their true aim was to prevent the war from happening in the first place, so this defeats the purpose as unnecessary deaths will still occur as a result.

-If they got sent back more than five years into the past, the combined chakra of the two of them and all nine tailed beasts would be insufficient, killing them(painfully) completely in the process, and possibly destroying the current timeline's world. Causing it to collapse due to the sheer imbalance of chakra from the lack of the tailed beasts. The world would eventually implode as it would be unable to sustain itself. Basically, Armageddon.

The chance of returning to a decent time in the past would be slightly less than a third, with nearly the whole world on the line should they fail and the chance of them returning to a favourable time would be far less. Nevertheless, they agreed to proceed with the plan.

It didn't faze them in their pursuit of a better world, a world that they can share with all their lost friends and families. To once again laugh with the people they cherished, to endure times of hardship with one another, they were willing to risk it all, however selfish it might seem.

The tailed beasts residing within Naruto had sympathised with them and had agreed to perform the jutsu together in spite of the consequences. Though part of the reason why is because they never had much of an opinion in regards to their own death with them being immortal divine embodiments of chakra and all. They had never experienced 'death' and were therefore unfearful of it. When their hosts had died, they simply reappeared again a few years later. Naruto had tried to give them an in-depth detail about the consequences in order to fully inform them but they were uninterested in hearing any of it.

Standing atop the Hokage Rock once again, the two of them said their final goodbyes to the village before casting the jutsu. This timeline would be completely erased should the jutsu succeed, and if not, the world would eventually decay and die. Naruto had felt bad for putting that big a risk on everyone but he knew deep down that the people had never truly recovered from the war and they were struggling to motivate themselves to keep going every single day. It pained Naruto to see the city in its current shabby state. That had allowed him to find some justification for his actions.

He knew that he was being selfish. He knew that it would take away any possibility of the people moving on. But he was adamant, he wanted to change everything so that no one had to go through this mess ever again. Instead of allowing them to recover, he would fight to prevent their sorrow.

"I _will_ change everything. I _will_ make everything right!" Naruto vowed under his breath. "Everyone _will_ survive this time…"

"Everyone ready?" Naruto asked as he prepared to cast the Jutsu.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Shikamaru said as Naruto put his arm around his shoulders, getting ready to bring him along in the jutsu.

" **HAH! I was** _ **born**_ **ready, there's nothing the great Kurama can't handle! BRING IT!** "Kurama declared confidently as the other tailed beasts sweat dropped, knowing how truly nervous he was.

" **We're ready Naruto, go ahead and cast the jutsu, we'll give you as much support as we can!** " Saiken declared as he spoke for the rest.

"Alright then, here we go, y'know!" Exclaimed Naruto as he slammed his hand on the seal, activating it in the process.

He was then transported into the enigmatic timeless void.

 **Five seconds left before that horrible pain kicks in…**

He immediately searched for the location of the seal… FOUND IT!

 **Four seconds left…**

Gathering all the chakra in his system that he could handle, he focused on transporting to it.

 **Three seconds left…**

It wasn't nearly enough, not even close. He needed more chakra, _much_ more. He promptly siphoned as much chakra as possible from the tailed beasts residing within him. Each one of them was fully focused on pushing their chakra into Naruto, giving it everything they've got.

 **Two seconds left…**

"Shit! I should've practiced this beforehand!" Naruto thought as he gathered the tailed beasts' chakra, much slower than he would've liked. At this point it was already too late to turn back, the only way was forward.

 **One second left…**

"GODDAMMIT! I can't miss this window! We've come too far to fail now!" He felt his body burning from the overwhelming Chakra coursing through his veins. It was as if he was going to spontaneously combust, exploding with a force capable of wiping out the whole world. Still, he kept absorbing as much chakra as he could despite the uncomfortable feeling.

 **Zero.**

The pain kicked in almost instantaneously. He felt every part of his body being destroyed cell by cell. "Almost… Almost there…" He thought as he endured through the indescribable excruciating pain enveloping his body. A millisecond felt like a year of endless torture. The pain was insurmountable. The tailed beasts were looking weary now, with almost their entire chakra pull channelled into Naruto.

"DONE!" He roared as he released every single ounce of the tailed beasts' chakra simultaneously. He could see the world around him bending as if he was flying through space.

But he didn't reappear in the real world like he was supposed to. And the soul-crushing pain was still tearing him apart. He could literally see the threshold of the seal now. It was within touching distance… But he and the tailed beasts were out of Chakra. He couldn't budge an inch. This was the end of the line.

"I'm sorry everyone… I failed you… I've let you down." Naruto thought as he laid there, accepting his fate. He then entered his mindscape one last time. All the tailed beasts had fallen into a deep comatose state, completely exhausted of their Chakra; they were practically skin and bones. He knelt in front of them, sobbing, regretting ever putting them through this. He had been selfish, putting so many lives at risk in order to fulfil his stupid deluded fantasies.

All of a sudden, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"What are you crying for, idiot?" Naruto looked up to see Shikamaru stoically looking down at him.

Naruto stared at him, mouth agape with surprise. Due to the heat of the moment, he had forgotten that he had brought Shikamaru along with him.

"With my Chakra, you will probably be able to reach the seal… Though I'm not sure if I will make it myself…" Shikamaru said, faking a smile. "If I don't, save the world for me."

Naruto tried to argue but he couldn't get the words out of his mouth. Chakra exhaustion had taken over his body. He then slumped onto the floor.

Shikamaru then knelt down and put his hand atop Naruto's head and began channelling his own chakra into the blonde.

Naruto could feel his real body edging ever closer to the entrance of the seal thanks to Shikamaru efforts. However, he was losing his consciousness. The few seconds of phenomenal pain had taken its toll on both his body and his soul. Even men like him have limits. Just as he was about to pass out, he felt the sensation of the seal activation. All the pain in his body disappeared at once as he allowed himself to let go of his consciousness.

Then the world around him turned white.


End file.
